Luc Besson has announced plans to adapt French sci-fi comic book series Valerian for the big screen.

The Fifth Element director will write and direct the film about the space and time-travelling agent and his female sidekick Laureline, Variety reports.

Valerian is the star of a series of graphic novels by Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mezieres, created in 1967.

Comic fan Luc worked with Mezieres when he asked him to design the concept for his sci-fi hit The Fifth Element.

The title of the project is currently unknown and it is believed Luc may have already been working on the project for some time.

Meanwhile, the director is due to work with Angelina Jolie on an action thriller early next year, and in August he begins work on black comedy crime thriller Malavita, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones.